Walking the GR7 in Andalucía, a Cicerone Guide

Our eyes fell on this new guide for people who want to walk (parts of) the GR7 (grand recordo 7) in Andalucia.  The pocket is the second edition, following the 2007 edition.  The guide explains all stages in between "Puebla de Don Fadrique" and "Tarifa", both the North fork, that goes through Cazorla, Cambril, through the province of Jaén to meet the South fork that runs through Baza, Puerto de la Ragua into the Alpujarras and Alhama the Granada.  You can find interesting background information besides the maps and discriptions of every stage.  You can order the book at www.cicerone.co.uk for about 20 EUR.

Photo impression San Marcos Bérchules 2011

We were too occupied ourselves to visit the procesion of San Marcos and San Isidro, but our guests Brigitte and Wim did enjoy the local festivities and took some pictures. These photos give an impression of one of the most important days of the village.

San Marcos and San Isidro program Berchules 2011

In Bérchules and Alcútar the patron saint of the animals is honoured every year. After a Holy Mass the figure of San Marcos is carried out of the church together with the figure of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of the farmers. Children in colourful clothes, youngsters in covered wagons, riders and villagers with their animals join the procession that slowly moves to Alcútar. Back in Bérchules ´roscos´ and animals are blessed and the breadrings are then handed out. (see post of 2010 with slideshow)
The San Marcos festivities are celebrated Saturday the 30th of April and Sunday the 1st of May.
This is the program of San Marcos 2011:

Santo Cristo 2010 celebration in Alcutar

This weekend, the 13th, 14th and 15th of August 2010, Alcútar honours its patron saint Santo Cristo de la Misericordia. Note that the relegious celebrations are put seperately at the right bottom of the program!
The procession will take place Saturday the 14th at 21.00 hours.
Sunday the 15th at 21.00 hours la subida (putting back the statue in the church) is also  impressive to experience.

(Alcútar is part of the ayuntamiento of Bérchules)

Procesión San Marcos between Bérchules and Alcútar 2010

On Saturday the 24th of April the procession of San Marcos from Bérchules to Alcútar took place. Many of  the young participants wore colourful flamenco dresses and stylish suits. Their seemed to be more riders - somebody counted about seventy horses - with beautiful mounts and a few more decorated cars compared to former years. Each year there is less livestock. As one person said to us, the faith in the blessing of the animals is diminishing. Somebody else mentioned that for the farmers that have their animals high up in the mountains it is a lot of work to take them all down. Instead of doing this, they now bring for example only two cows down to get the blessing. This doesn´t mean that there are less farmers that have cattle or less shepherds with sheep and goats in our village, it´s just that some berchuleros decide it´s no longer worth the effort. Although the character of the San Marcos fiesta might therefore change a little bit each year, it will most probably always remain a joyful happening for people of all ages. ´Una procesión muy linda y digna de ver´ as a friend said to us, with which we agree completely. We made a small slide show for the people that would like to get an impression of the San Marcos procession of 2010.



Related articles:
- Links on Berchules and Alcutar

Semana cultural with San Marcos and San Isidro in Bérchules

In Bérchules and Alcútar the patron saint of the animals is honoured every year. After a Holy Mass the figure of San Marcos is carried out of the church together with the figure of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of the farmers. Children in colourful clothes, youngsters in covered wagons, riders and villagers with their animals join the procession that slowly moves to Alcútar. Back in Bérchules ´roscos´ and animals are blessed and the breadrings are then handed out.
The San Marcos festivities are part of the cultural week celebrated from the 19th to the 25th of April.
This is the programme of the Semana Cultural in Bérchules 2010:

Related articles:
- Links on Bérchules and Alcútar

Related links:
- Article in the Ideal of Rafael Vílchez about San Marcos 2009
- Article in the Ideal of Rafael Vílchez about San Marcos 2008

Día de Andalucía in Bérchules

The 28th of February, the Día de Andalucía is celebrated. This year it is the 30th anniversary of the statutes of autonomy of Andalusia. For this reason in Cádiar there are special commemorative festivities as we can read in the article from the Libro de Visitas de Cádiar.
In Bérchules and Alcútar it is this year called Día de Pucherico. On the ground floor of the Town Hall of Bérchules an Olla de San Antón and a Puchero de cardos will be prepared on Sunday at 14.00 hours. For the children there will be migas. The bar will be open from 12.00 hours onwards. The profits will be used for the repairs of the parish hall and the church of Alcútar, which both suffered a lot from the bad weather this winter. On Saturday the 27th of February, Trio del Sur will care for the music of a dance party that starts at 22.00 hours also in `los bajos del Ayuntamiento´ of Bérchules.
Something that was announced after writing this article, was the actuación of Al-Cadí of Cádiar and Los Vergeles de Bérchules, two grupos de música tradicional de la Alpujarra on Sunday afternoon.

¡Viva Santo Cristo!

Last weekend Alcútar celebrated its ´fiestas patronales´. The patron saint of this village is ´El Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia´, whose carving can be seen hanging above the central altar of the village church throughout the year. For the celebrations it is taken down and placed on a portable platform with candles and red carnations. On Saturday evening about fifteen men from the village lifted the image up an carried it out of the church while the band was playing the announcement with impressive drumbeats. While one of the assistents exclaimed ¡viva Santo Cristo!, this was repeated by the ´alcuteros´ and ´berchulers´ with great fervour. After this the carving was taken through the small steep streets of Alcútar followed by the band and the faithful villagers carrying candles. After two hours the ´costaleros´ or carriers arrived back at the church exhausted. This is no wonder as the total weight is about a thousand kilos and they sometimes needed to almost go down on their knees to be able to pass underneath the ´tinaos´. The procession was followed by music and dancing until dawn. On Sunday a lot of activities were organized and there was paella for everybody in the afternoon. On Sunday evening the carving was hung back above the altar with all due ceremony. Blessed red carnations were handed down for people to take home. The music of the band playing inside the church was impressive and moving. We therefore encourage everybody to attend the ´subida del Santo Cristo´ when they have a change. The fiestas in Alcútar in his honour, are always celebrated the second weekend of August.

Fiestas de San Marcos Bérchules 2009

Like in many other Alpujarran villages, Bérchules organizes all kind of festivities in honour of San Marcos, the patron saint of the animals. This saint´s day is the 25th of April which is this year on a Saturday and therefor the most important day. In the morning at 10.00 hours ´roscos´ or breadrings are blessed by the priest. At 12.00 hours the Holy Mass starts. After the Holy Mass, at 13.00 hours, the figure of San Marcos is carried out of the church together with the figure of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of the farmers. Children in colourful clothes, youngsters in covered wagons, riders and villagers with their animals join the procession that slowly moves to Alcútar where the blessed ´roscos´ are handed out. There are a lot more activities going on, see programme of the Semana Cultural and Fiestas de San Marcos & San Isidro 2009:

Links on Berchules and Alcutar

general - lodgings - activities - bars - restaurants - supermarkets
shops - businesses - banks - fuentes - monuments - videos - photographs


General information:

- description on turgranada, on adr alpujarra , on andalucia.org
- street map (or ´plano´)
- town hall latest official website  town hall old website
- local weather forecast
- guardia civil (tel: 958-9002)
- post office or ´correos´ at plaza abastos (12.30 - 13.00 hours)
- medical service or ´consultorio´ (tel: 958-769195)
- public el. school or ´colegio público´ (tel: 958-769161)
- forum (foro-ciudad)
- bus service granada and almería
- closest gas station in cádiar at 15 minutes: josé maría lópez (tel:958-768212)
- all our blog articles on bérchulesWe have a special chapter on bérchules on our website www.elparaje.com under ´region´.

Lodgings:
- casa rural el paraje
- hotel los bérchules
- el mirador de bérchules
- el cercado
- el vergel de bérchules
- aula de la naturaleza la alpujarra
- appartments jesús peralta, appartments ramón,

Activities:
- mountain biking with pure mountains or watch one of their videos


Bars:
- bar juan (plaza iglesia 2, tel: 958-852553 alcútar)
- el mirador de berchules
- bar vaquero (plaza abastos, tel: 958-852549)
- bar vergeles (plaza iglesia 8)
- la triana
- bar La Posada
- cuatro vientos (calle carretera 4, tel: 958-769039 mondays closed)
- terraza la tranca (at village entrance crossing, tel: 958-852525)
- bar cafe el duende (tel: 679-823200)
- discotheque el duende (ctra. alcutar-bérchules, 958-769169 or 679-823200)

Off course you can have a drink on the terrace of el paraje

Restaurants:
- casa rural el paraje (on reservation only)
- el mirador de bérchules
- hotel los bérchules (best call in advance)
- la triana
- el cercado
- bar cuatro vientos (´menu del día´ and ´raciones´)
- bar el duende
- bar pizzeria La Posada (plaza abastos)

Supermarkets
- covirán (calle haza gualda 27, tel: 958-852579)
- spar (calle iglesia 14, tel: 958-769103)
- komo komo (calle haza gualda 13, tel: 958-769054)
- tienda isabel (calle agua 21, tel: 958-769081)

Shops:
- bazar angelitas (estanco and giftshop, calle fuente iglesia, tel: 958-769163)
- el cairo (giftshop, tools and more, calle haza gualda, tel: 958-852585)
- hairdresser´s or ´peluquería´ lupe (calle haza gualda, tel: 958-852585)
- estanco alcútar (calle iglesia 8, alcutar, tel: 958-769097)
- bakery or ´panadería´ josé antonio
- pharmacy or ´farmácia´ san pantaleón (plaza abastos 1, tel: 958-769003)

Businesses
- ocaba 2005 sl, constructions and renovation (calle nueva 6, tel: 685-544 830 or 653-462428)
- semilla la alpujarra sl (cno. de la sierra 16, tel: 958-852537)
- hermanos gervilla peralta - construction materials and animal food (tel: 618-924824 or 620-075353)
- la cooperativa (tel: 958-769005)

Banks:
- caja rural de granada, with cashpoint (calle iglésia 4, tel: 958-769 031)
- caja granada (calle iglésia 17, tel:958-769012)

Fuentes:
- fuente carmela, fuente la platera, fuente del porton, fuente grande, fuente de garcía, fuente agria


Monuments:
- Iglesia San Juan Bautista (Berchules), Iglesia Santa María La Mayor (Alcútar)

Videos:
- Made by Alvaro Bernal Alejandre

Photographs:
- Slideshow San Marcos 2010
- Slide show of ten old photographs of the village: by Jordi Rico
- Slide show of three group photographs from 1894 taken from the virtual exhibition Luces de Sulayr
- Coat of arms or ´escudo´ of Casa Claudio

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